Black Bag: A Soft And Clever Take On The Genre Of Spy Movies
Image Credit: Claudette Barius / Focus Features
Black Bag tells the story of married intelligence agents, George (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn Woodhouse (Cate Blanchett), who’s trust and love are tested when Kathryn seemingly betrays her country.
Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp have created a distinctive and sophisticated espionage thriller, which can be difficult to do with a genre that already has an abundance of films in its backlog. Straying away from the typical bloody action films we normally see with these movies, or the Mr & Mrs Smith trope of spy films, the movie embodies more of a whodunit, rather than the obvious motifs.
We dive right into the film and are posed with a mysterious question. We see George – a stoic and quite particular kind of man – being given the names of five key suspects that could be acting as double agents at the Cyber Security Agency he works for. Much to his chagrin, his colleague and wife, Kathryn – a loving, diligent, and sometimes callous person – ends up being on the list. Keeping this knowledge to himself, he invites the other four colleagues over for dinner; Colonel James Stokes (Rege-Jean Page), who is in some type of relationship with Dr. Zoe Vaughn (Naomie Harris), the psychologist on site, Freddie Smalls, a quick witted flirt, and his girlfriend Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), who is slightly newer to the field.
In an effort to find out who the worst liar is in the group, for his own personal intel, George proposes that the colleagues play a game, where they give the person on the left of them resolutions that they think they should achieve. Ultimately exposing the preconceived notions they may or may not have of each other. This results in George challenging Tom’s excessive denial of Clarissa’s claims that he’s cheating, and confirming that Clarissa was correct in her assumption. Which causes Clarissa to stab Tom’s hand with a steak knife for lying, who funnily enough can’t feel the pain due to how intoxicated he was, adding a comic element to a tense scene.
Once the guests had left, thinking he had figured out who the rat in their agency was, George finds a single ticket to a film, and in an effort to try and eliminate his wife from the list of suspects, he asks her if she had seen the film listed on the stub. Which she replies to with a clear no. Marking the beginning of the growing suspicions and panic that George, and us as an audience, battle throughout the film.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Soderbergh thought that Black Bag would “...be interesting to make Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? but George and Martha are in the intelligence community.” Which he accomplishes seamlessly, even including a nod to the famous play, as Tom Burke’s character Freddie Smalls says, “You are cordially invited to an evening of fun and games at George and Kathryn’s.” A homage to the prominent line, “You are cordially invited to an evening of fun and games at George and Martha’s.”
It would also be hard not to mention how great Fassbender and Blanchett’s chemistry was and how incredibly well they play off of each other. The film captures the intimate moments between the two, through the way they communicate, and the devout love for one another. The rest of the cast also provided excellent performances, complimenting each other as an ensemble.
The film was a slower pace in terms of the storyline, but when audiences were posed with questions on the reliability of characters and their motives, we immediately got the answers. A complete juxtaposition to the pace of the film. This doesn’t necessarily give the audience enough time to mull and figure out what will happen next, giving instant gratification. Which in this instance, helped with building a story from start to finish with a tight 93 minute run time, but doesn’t let audiences play around with theories or ideas in their heads before getting a solution.
Black Bag wasn’t the typical espionage action packed film, which is surprising considering Soderbergh’s extensive history with the genre. Instead, Soderbergh slows the pace down, focussing more on the technical aspects of the world of espionage, and includes elements of humour, drawing inspiration from the clichés of whodunits. Most importantly, he hones in on the complexities of the emotional and personal feelings these people have, showing more than the icy exterior they need to front in their careers. Underneath it all, the film encapsulates the unwavering love between two people and the devotion to protect each other at all costs.
